A lack of evidence spares couple from adultery conviction

By Pao Chien-hsin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with Staff writer

A man and a married woman caught in a motel room and charged with adultery were found not guilty by the Kaohsiung District Court on Thursday because the woman’s husband and son burst in on the pair, apparently before they could have sex.

According to prosecutors, the husband, surnamed Chung (鍾), suspected that his wife was cheating on him because she frequently did not come directly home from work.

On Dec. 30 last year, Chung and his adult son secretly followed his wife.

She parked her car in front of the rear gate of the Kaohisung Municipal Cianjhen Senior High School before stepping into the car of her alleged lover, surnamed Huang (黃), prosecutors said.

The two then drove to a motel in Cianjhen District (前鎮), prosecutors said, adding that Chung and his son had gone to the police station in Caoya to report a case of adultery.

The police, along with Chung and motel staff, visited the room that Huang and Chung’s wife were occupying and discovered Huang bare-chested and Chung’s wife with only a towel wrapped around her.

During the trial, Chung’s wife said that she had felt out of sorts and had asked Huang to drive her to the motel to rest. Both she and Huang denied ever having had sex together.

The collegiate bench convened to preside over the case called on Chung and his son as witnesses.

They both said they only saw that both Chung’s wife and Huang were in various states of undress.

The court ruled that as no used condoms were seized as evidence from the scene, the condoms provided by the motel had not been opened and there were no other signs of sexual activity having taken place, there was insufficient evidence to find Huang and Chung’s wife guilty.